Mayor Johnson warms to revised curfew ordinance that targets teen takeovers

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday warmed to a newly revised curfew ordinance aimed at preventing teen takeovers from turning violent.

Johnson said the ordinance that Public Safety Chair and 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins pushed through his committee last week — and the snap curfew ordinance that the mayor vetoed last year — are “two very different proposals.”

“The snap curfew, which I was opposed to and still am, gave the sole authority to one particular individual to declare a curfew at a moment’s notice,” Johnson told WBEZ-FM (91.5) talk show host Sasha-Ann Simons during Tuesday’s monthly “Ask the Mayor” program.

“There were some real constitutional challenges there that I believe would have put the city at risk of litigation and lawsuit. This particular proposal — especially the measure around holding social media companies accountable on how these gatherings get ignited — gives me a little bit more confidence to have more conversations around this particular proposal,” the mayor said.

He stopped short of ruling out a veto of the revised ordinance that would empower Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling to declare a four-hour curfew anywhere in the city with 12 hours notice. But he also went out of his way to draw what he called a “clear distinction” between the new and old versions.

The older version "gave unilateral control and authority to one individual to declare it without any real notification essentially. With this one, there’s been some thoughtfulness behind it,” Johnson said. “But what I don’t want is this misnomer for the people of Chicago to believe that the only way in which we can invest in young people is through a curfew. That’s all. I want to make that point clear.”

Hopkins was heartened by the mayor’s remarks. He said mayoral ally and 6th Ward Ald. William Hall has been “instrumental in changing hearts and minds” after attending the funeral of 14-year-old Armani Floyd.

Floyd was shot and killed in late November after a Downtown teen takeover turned violent after Chicago’s annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Millennium Park. Eight other teens were wounded in the shootings.

“Talking to the family members — the realization that had the curfew been in place and we had the ability to cancel this event and prohibit it from getting to the point where fights broke out and guns were fired — [that] Armani Floyd would be alive had a profound effect," Hopkins said.

“Ald. Hall voted against the snap curfew ordinance. He is a co-sponsor of this one. That underscores the significance of the changes that were made. This tool is needed, and it’s a better version than the last two versions. The third time’s the charm,” he said.

Hall acknowledged that he was moved and changed by Armani's funeral.

“I’ve been to many funerals in our city due to gun violence. But this one was different because it was partly insinuated by social media, and wondering if the child hadn’t seen the image on their phone, would they still be alive?” Hall told the Chicago Sun-Times.

After helping Hopkins draft the new ordinance, Hall agreed to co-sponsor it. But Hall said there might need to be a few tweaks before a final vote by the full City Council next week to respond to concerns raised by some of his constituents at a community meeting on Monday.

“If a curfew is implemented, will kids be detained or will kids be dispersed? Dispersing our children versus detaining our children is what was raised … by residents of the 6th Ward," Hall said.

“My residents were very concerned about ... a roundup of kids because of a curfew that is citywide or in a certain area of the city that doesn’t apply to bad kids. ... I’m on board as long as there’s not any civil rights violations that have been raised in the last 24 hours,” he said.

Hall said he's still working to refine his companion plan to penalize social media companies that refuse to take down notices of teen takeovers — essentially large gatherings of youths summoned by social media that sometimes turn unruly and violent.

But TikTok is the only social media giant that has "willingly come to the table," Hall said. "There's been no contact with Meta. I'm disappointed in that. But I guess Meta thinks they're too big to fail."